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Walking Wounded
A stirring debut novel about the complex relationship between a soldier and his psychiatrist, set in a failing psychiatric hospital between the end of the Second World War and the founding of the NHS.
Set in Northfield, an understaffed military psychiatric hospital immediately before the NHS is founded, Walking Wounded is the story of a doctor and his patient: David Reece, a young journalist-to be whose wartime experiences in Burma have come back to haunt him violently; and Daniel Carter, one of the senior psychiatrists, a man who is fighting his own battles as well as those of his patients.
This moving and impressive debut explores violence and how much harm it does to those forced to inflict it in the name of war. It also captures the dilemmas of the medics themselves as they attempt to 'fix' their patients, each of whom raise the question of what has happened to their humanity, what can be done to help them, and what we are willing to sacrifice in the name of healing.
Set in Northfield, an understaffed military psychiatric hospital immediately before the NHS is founded, Walking Wounded is the story of a doctor and his patient: David Reece, a young journalist-to be whose wartime experiences in Burma have come back to haunt him violently; and Daniel Carter, one of the senior psychiatrists, a man who is fighting his own battles as well as those of his patients.
This moving and impressive debut explores violence and how much harm it does to those forced to inflict it in the name of war. It also captures the dilemmas of the medics themselves as they attempt to 'fix' their patients, each of whom raise the question of what has happened to their humanity, what can be done to help them, and what we are willing to sacrifice in the name of healing.
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First published January 25, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 4, 2018
“Daniel stared at the white-ish brain matter clinging to the haft and clogging up the eye of the needle. Can it really be as easy as that – to scrape out someone's depression, their melancholy, their anxiety? To scrape out someone's emotions?”So assured is Sheila Llewellyn's writing, one would never guess Walking Wounded was her first novel. Her portrayal of the emotional devastation caused by armed conflict, and the often unintentional misery brought about by misguided attempts to repair the damage is staggeringly accomplished.
Set in Birmingham's once highly influential Northfield Military Psychiatric Hospital, it is tempting to conclude we are entering Pat Barker terrain – a writer well known for focusing on themes of memory, trauma, survival and recovery. Like Barker, the author has an uncanny ability to evoke the appalling mental anguish induced by war, she is seemingly able to fathom the suppressed male subconscious, and many of her characters are based on historic figures – but there the similarities end.
Inspired by her own experience of treating victims of PTSD in Northern Ireland, the author's narrative switches back and forth between the fictitious characters: psychiatrist Daniel Carter and Corporal David Reece. It is 1947 and both doctor and patient have been profoundly damaged by their ordeals, but they also have the subliminal power to heal one another.
From the morale-destroying Burma Campaign to life in the old industrial city of Manchester (just before and immediately after the Second World War), Llewellyn's historical and topographical research is scrupulous yet subtle. Speaking personally, as the daughter of a Mancunian who lived through the period described in this novel, I find her descriptions of the Manchester Blitz, and of The Manchester Guardian's candid reporting of the Nazi atrocities, particularly fascinating.
Walking Wounded is a brilliantly crafted, often harrowing, powerfully intense piece of work, which deserves to win awards. I hope very much that Sheila Llewellyn plans a second novel.
Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for supplying an advance copy of this title.
October 16, 2017
This story is set in 1947, just months before the NHS was established and, in alternating chapters, follows two main characters, ex-soldier David Reece and senior psychiatrist Daniel Carter. At the start of the war David was employed as a messenger boy at the Manchester Guardian, with aspirations of becoming a journalist. However, in 1941, aged eighteen, he was called up and posted to Burma in 1942, finally returning home when demobilised in 1946. However, increasingly haunted by his experiences during the war, he finds it hard to settle back into civilian life and, following a violent fight with a young man in a pub, is admitted to Northfield Military Psychiatric Hospital. Daniel is responsible for treating David but is fighting professional battles as well as personal demons. The story follows them as they attempt to find ways to reconcile their past experiences and to move forward in a fast-changing world.
Using a combination of fact and fiction Sheila Llewellyn has written a very powerful story about the effects on military personnel of their wartime experiences, the sense of dislocation they so often feel when they return to civilian life. She also explores the struggles and conflicts faced by the professionals responsible for treating them. Her own experiences of working with people suffering from post-traumatic stress ensures that all of the experiences and feelings attributed to her characters feel absolutely credible and convincing. During the immediate post-war period this condition was little understood and there was disagreement as to the most effective treatment for it. The use of ECT (electro-convulsive therapy) was widespread but the use of leucotomy (also known as lobotomy) was becoming used more frequently as a form of treatment. This had been developed in the 1930s, based on the belief that the frontal lobes of the brain regulated tension and anxiety and that if the white matter tracts were cut through and removed, this would sever the links with other brain structures, thus removing or, at the very least weakening, abnormal levels of anxiety and depression. Having witnessed such a procedure carried out, with only a local anaesthetic, on a 50 year old woman suffering from “melancholia”, David is still haunted by the look in the woman’s eyes as she was operated on. As a result he too is suffering from his own post-traumatic stress experiences. He abhors the brutality and barbarism of what is an unproven technique and one which he regards as a violent assault on patients. His approach to treatment is a much more psychotherapeutic one, using talking, group and art therapy to encourage patients to face and understand their demons, and then to find a way to manage them and to move forward.
Sheila Llewellyn’s writing is so powerful and disturbing that there were times throughout the book when I felt that I was being taken on David’s journey through his terrifying experiences. Random experiences in the present allowed memories to flood in, to take over in ways which made him feel totally powerless, unable to either understand their significance or to control them. Images of the past flitted across his eyes, disturbing and horrifying, not least because he has no way of de-fusing them. The author’s descriptions evoke the insidious nature of a condition which can strike at totally random moments, catapulting sufferers back to violent and disturbing experiences. Many of my own experiences working as a psychotherapeutic counsellor were reflected in the professional conflicts Daniel faced, as well as his struggles with self-awareness when working with his patients, so this added another layer to my appreciation of this story.
I liked the fact that there were so many parallels between Daniel and David, with each of them struggling with issues surrounding absent fathers and a search for paternal love. David tried to resolve this by seeking father figures, whilst Daniel compensated by becoming one to his patients. They each struggled with feelings of shame and guilt about things they had done, as well as things they had not done. Each of them wanted to be a “good” person, but each of them knew that they had done things which had diminished their humanity and wondered whether they would ever be able to compensate for those actions. The fact that each of them was engaged in a battle with inner demons and was on a painful journey of self-discovery added an extra dimension to this remarkable and memorable book.
In addition to its being a very thought-provoking and disturbing but satisfying personal read, I think it is an ideal book for reading groups because of all the issues it raises in relation to what society expects of its service personnel, the effects of war and conflict on them and the ongoing support they may need when they suffer as a result of these experiences. The recognition and treatment of PTSD and attitudes to mental health in general have, thankfully, moved on since the 1940s. However, there are still people who are not being offered the support they need and deserve and anything which highlights this is to be applauded. A remarkable debut novel.
Using a combination of fact and fiction Sheila Llewellyn has written a very powerful story about the effects on military personnel of their wartime experiences, the sense of dislocation they so often feel when they return to civilian life. She also explores the struggles and conflicts faced by the professionals responsible for treating them. Her own experiences of working with people suffering from post-traumatic stress ensures that all of the experiences and feelings attributed to her characters feel absolutely credible and convincing. During the immediate post-war period this condition was little understood and there was disagreement as to the most effective treatment for it. The use of ECT (electro-convulsive therapy) was widespread but the use of leucotomy (also known as lobotomy) was becoming used more frequently as a form of treatment. This had been developed in the 1930s, based on the belief that the frontal lobes of the brain regulated tension and anxiety and that if the white matter tracts were cut through and removed, this would sever the links with other brain structures, thus removing or, at the very least weakening, abnormal levels of anxiety and depression. Having witnessed such a procedure carried out, with only a local anaesthetic, on a 50 year old woman suffering from “melancholia”, David is still haunted by the look in the woman’s eyes as she was operated on. As a result he too is suffering from his own post-traumatic stress experiences. He abhors the brutality and barbarism of what is an unproven technique and one which he regards as a violent assault on patients. His approach to treatment is a much more psychotherapeutic one, using talking, group and art therapy to encourage patients to face and understand their demons, and then to find a way to manage them and to move forward.
Sheila Llewellyn’s writing is so powerful and disturbing that there were times throughout the book when I felt that I was being taken on David’s journey through his terrifying experiences. Random experiences in the present allowed memories to flood in, to take over in ways which made him feel totally powerless, unable to either understand their significance or to control them. Images of the past flitted across his eyes, disturbing and horrifying, not least because he has no way of de-fusing them. The author’s descriptions evoke the insidious nature of a condition which can strike at totally random moments, catapulting sufferers back to violent and disturbing experiences. Many of my own experiences working as a psychotherapeutic counsellor were reflected in the professional conflicts Daniel faced, as well as his struggles with self-awareness when working with his patients, so this added another layer to my appreciation of this story.
I liked the fact that there were so many parallels between Daniel and David, with each of them struggling with issues surrounding absent fathers and a search for paternal love. David tried to resolve this by seeking father figures, whilst Daniel compensated by becoming one to his patients. They each struggled with feelings of shame and guilt about things they had done, as well as things they had not done. Each of them wanted to be a “good” person, but each of them knew that they had done things which had diminished their humanity and wondered whether they would ever be able to compensate for those actions. The fact that each of them was engaged in a battle with inner demons and was on a painful journey of self-discovery added an extra dimension to this remarkable and memorable book.
In addition to its being a very thought-provoking and disturbing but satisfying personal read, I think it is an ideal book for reading groups because of all the issues it raises in relation to what society expects of its service personnel, the effects of war and conflict on them and the ongoing support they may need when they suffer as a result of these experiences. The recognition and treatment of PTSD and attitudes to mental health in general have, thankfully, moved on since the 1940s. However, there are still people who are not being offered the support they need and deserve and anything which highlights this is to be applauded. A remarkable debut novel.
December 26, 2017
I received this book free from Good Reads.
It is the story of 2 young men both suffering with similar problems, both carrying burdens but for different reasons.
The first one is David Reece who is an army corporal & served in Burma.
The second is Daniel Carter, an army major, who is a psychiatrist at Northfield Military Hospital, which is where the 2 men meet one another.
The first part is about the hospital from June – July 1947.
The second part is in Manchester from November 1946 – May 1947.
The third part is at Northfield again from August – September 1947.
The first part goes into great detail about how “The Walking Wounded” were treated in the years just following the 2nd world war. It is not very pleasant to read but extremely well told by the author.
I think I would have preferred to have read the second part first & kept the story in chronological order, but that is just my opinion.
It deals with some very controversial subjects, but nevertheless, one that needs telling. I would be interested to read how people with PTSD are treated today. Perhaps another story dealing with these problems in our present time, would be of interest.
Definitely a book worth reading.
It is the story of 2 young men both suffering with similar problems, both carrying burdens but for different reasons.
The first one is David Reece who is an army corporal & served in Burma.
The second is Daniel Carter, an army major, who is a psychiatrist at Northfield Military Hospital, which is where the 2 men meet one another.
The first part is about the hospital from June – July 1947.
The second part is in Manchester from November 1946 – May 1947.
The third part is at Northfield again from August – September 1947.
The first part goes into great detail about how “The Walking Wounded” were treated in the years just following the 2nd world war. It is not very pleasant to read but extremely well told by the author.
I think I would have preferred to have read the second part first & kept the story in chronological order, but that is just my opinion.
It deals with some very controversial subjects, but nevertheless, one that needs telling. I would be interested to read how people with PTSD are treated today. Perhaps another story dealing with these problems in our present time, would be of interest.
Definitely a book worth reading.
November 12, 2018
Historical WWII fiction that examines PTSD generally but also questionable physical treatments for PTSD at that time.
The characters are interesting but the story is flat. Perhaps I have already read too many WWII books in my lifetime on this subject.
The characters are interesting but the story is flat. Perhaps I have already read too many WWII books in my lifetime on this subject.
January 18, 2022
A moving novel about PTSD,war,humanity and healing.Northfield,an understaffed military psychiatric hospital immediately before the NHS is founded,this is the story of a doctor and his patient:David Reece,a young journalist-to be whose wartime experiences in Burma have come back to haunt him violently; and Daniel Carter,one of the senior psychiatrists,a man who is fighting his own battles as well as those of his patients.
Hollymoor Hospital was a psychiatric hospital located at Tessall Lane,Northfield in Birmingham,UK.In April 1942 it became a military psychiatric hospital and became known as Northfield Military Hospital.Psychoanalysts Wilfred Bion and John Rickman set up the first Northfield experiment. Bion and Rickman were in charge of the training and rehabilitation wing of Northfield, and ran the unit along the principles of group dynamics.Their aim was to improve morale by creating an esprit de corps.However, the first experiment wasn't popular with military authorities due to its unconventionality.The second Northfield experiment,which was based on the ideas of Bion and Rickman and used group psychotherapy,was started the following year by Siegmund Foulkes,who was more successful at gaining the support of the military authorities.Poet Vernon Scannell was a patient at the hospital in 1947.One of the military psychiatrists involved in the project was Lt. Col. T.F. Main,who coined the term therapeutic community,and saw the potential of the experiments in the development of future therapeutic communities.Barnwood House Hospital was a private mental hospital in Barnwood, Gloucester,UK, est.1860.It was very popular with the military and clergy.An association with the Burden Neurological Institute from 1939 meant that Barnwood House patients were used in early experiments with electroconvulsive therapy and psychosurgery.Four certified patients at Barnwood House were also amongst the first in England to undergo prefrontal leucotomy.Barnwood House then employed the services of neurosurgeon Wylie McKissock to continue the leucotomy programme.Lobotomy/Leucotomy was a highly controversial procedure that harmed more than it helped.
Hollymoor Hospital was a psychiatric hospital located at Tessall Lane,Northfield in Birmingham,UK.In April 1942 it became a military psychiatric hospital and became known as Northfield Military Hospital.Psychoanalysts Wilfred Bion and John Rickman set up the first Northfield experiment. Bion and Rickman were in charge of the training and rehabilitation wing of Northfield, and ran the unit along the principles of group dynamics.Their aim was to improve morale by creating an esprit de corps.However, the first experiment wasn't popular with military authorities due to its unconventionality.The second Northfield experiment,which was based on the ideas of Bion and Rickman and used group psychotherapy,was started the following year by Siegmund Foulkes,who was more successful at gaining the support of the military authorities.Poet Vernon Scannell was a patient at the hospital in 1947.One of the military psychiatrists involved in the project was Lt. Col. T.F. Main,who coined the term therapeutic community,and saw the potential of the experiments in the development of future therapeutic communities.Barnwood House Hospital was a private mental hospital in Barnwood, Gloucester,UK, est.1860.It was very popular with the military and clergy.An association with the Burden Neurological Institute from 1939 meant that Barnwood House patients were used in early experiments with electroconvulsive therapy and psychosurgery.Four certified patients at Barnwood House were also amongst the first in England to undergo prefrontal leucotomy.Barnwood House then employed the services of neurosurgeon Wylie McKissock to continue the leucotomy programme.Lobotomy/Leucotomy was a highly controversial procedure that harmed more than it helped.
September 5, 2019
Walking Wounded is the debut novel by Sheila Llewellyn. I found it a very moving and very compelling book to read, an insightful and powerful novel, a beautifully and honestly told story. The author takes as her setting for much of the novel the Northfield Military Psychiatric Hospital, a real place where psychiatrists treated soldiers. She introduces to two central characters, David, who had hoped to become a journalist, has returned after the end of World War Two from fighting in Burma, and Daniel, a doctor at the hospital. Their lives touch at the hospital, and we learn what has brought David there, what haunts him from his wartime experiences. From Daniel we learn about different treatments which were then being employed, the talking and group work that Daniel had been involved in, and the frightening leucotomy procedures which some others in the profession were favouring. Sheila Llewellyn also introduces some real people from the period. One whose name she changes but is based on a real person gives us a fascinating character alongside David in the hospital. The author has worked with those suffering from PTSD and I felt this knowledge and experience came through in her writing on these matters. I liked the novel throughout, the characters, the insights, and the way it was structured. I enjoyed the sections too which were focussed on David's time working at the Manchester Guardian and learning a little about that. It was harrowing to read of the operations that were performed, in particular because it seemed that no one was absolutely certain of the benefits and the procedure could not be reversed. A recommended read.
Some of the passages that stood out to me...
'But he was deeply wounded within himself, Daniel was sure of it. So many of them were....All carrying the burden of terrible secrets hidden in their hearts. The walking wounded.'
'All this, it's just memories. It happened, but it's not happening now.'
'And now we've got a bomb that can dole out death on a scale we'd never imagined. But we shouldn't be working out how to end wars with bloody great bombs, should we? We should be working out how not to start them in the first place.'
'He'd be absconding all his life, one way or another, thought Daniel. From authority, from relationships, but from himself mostly.'
'We've all been through the war. Those I left behind have been through theirs. I've been through mine. It feels like they were different wars. I brought my war back with me. It doesn't match theirs. Nothing fits any more.'
'There are no friends in here. It might be crowded, but you're on your own. There's no point getting close to anyone because they leave you behind. Or you leave them. It's all the same. You end up on your own.'
'The fundamental drive within him to help men recover from their trauma was at the heart of what he did every day...'
Some of the passages that stood out to me...
'But he was deeply wounded within himself, Daniel was sure of it. So many of them were....All carrying the burden of terrible secrets hidden in their hearts. The walking wounded.'
'All this, it's just memories. It happened, but it's not happening now.'
'And now we've got a bomb that can dole out death on a scale we'd never imagined. But we shouldn't be working out how to end wars with bloody great bombs, should we? We should be working out how not to start them in the first place.'
'He'd be absconding all his life, one way or another, thought Daniel. From authority, from relationships, but from himself mostly.'
'We've all been through the war. Those I left behind have been through theirs. I've been through mine. It feels like they were different wars. I brought my war back with me. It doesn't match theirs. Nothing fits any more.'
'There are no friends in here. It might be crowded, but you're on your own. There's no point getting close to anyone because they leave you behind. Or you leave them. It's all the same. You end up on your own.'
'The fundamental drive within him to help men recover from their trauma was at the heart of what he did every day...'
September 12, 2021
Reminiscent of Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, this book deals with the pyschological scars of battle, and some of the controversial treatments used to treat damaged soldiers, but is set at the end of World War II rather than the First World War. We hear the voices of the disillusioned doctor who disagrees with some of his colleague's surgical 'solutions' and a young soldier haunted by horrors in Burma. The descriptions of leucotomies (better known as lobotomies) are particularly disturbing. Quietly angry, this is a thoughtful and effective exploration of the toll violence takes.
January 9, 2018
I won this in the giveaways in exchange for an honest review. When David Reece is discharged from the army after WW2 he finds it difficult to cope with civvy life and finds himself in a military mental hospital. Here he meets various people suffering from what we now identify as PTSD. This was a well-written story about how war affects so many people in so many ways and highlights the shocking treatment for those with mental health issues.
February 17, 2018
I found this book overly clinical. Despite the descriptions of the horrors of war and the horrors of post 2nd WW medicine, I didn’t find myself emotionally engaged by the book. Horrified, yes. But did I feel for the characters? Not enough. As for putting a real poet into the story, I felt it added nothing.
Having read and loved and been moved by Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy, particularly the first book, I’d say read that instead.
Having read and loved and been moved by Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy, particularly the first book, I’d say read that instead.
May 22, 2019
An interesting look at the treatment of what we now call PTSD in post-WWII Britain. A period when psychiatry was experimenting with surgical intervention in the form of leucotomy (lobotomy) whilst others were advocating talking therapies. The characters are engaging and their individual experiences of the war seem well-researched and believable. Recommended.
July 27, 2018
Amazing story about the damage of war and the aftermath of men's mental health and the struggle to understand you can't cut away who they are.
April 29, 2019
There’s incredible attention to detail in this WW2 novel as characters deal with the repercussions of battle. Sensitively done, yet it quietly emphasises the horrors experienced by many.
December 20, 2024
I was really quite surprised with this book and read it all in a day. It really puts into perspective the damage that war inflicts mentally to everyone involved and the ongoing battles one must face.
February 17, 2018
“Only the dead have seen the end of war.”
─ Plato
"Walking Wounded” by Sheila Llewellyn is not an easy book to read. It’s the kind of novel that asks to be put down, to be breathed through. This is not due to its corporeal size, but to the emotional weight it carries.
Though it travels back and forth in time, the journey begins at the Northfield Military Psychiatric Hospital. The narrative is led by two characters: David Reece, an ex-soldier struggling to settle back into civilian life after being demobilised from Burma, and Daniel Carter, a senior psychiatrist assigned to help David while fighting his own personal and professional demons.
“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”
─ Howard Zinn
There are two opening scenes before the actual beginning of the book that set the tone for what follows. While David in Burma bears witness to two men cutting into a mule’s voice box with the intention of silencing the animal, Daniel in Barnwood House Hospital observes a leucotomy being performed on a woman suffering from “melancholia”. These two procedures, seemingly unrelated at first, draw parallels between the two characters that then intertwine their experiences throughout the pages.
The fact that they are both haunted by memories from their pasts, and by the expectations of their futures, surrounds their every interaction with an extraordinarily particular aura. Llewellyn seems to acknowledge this, her writing attending to the smallest of details with such reverence that time itself seems to slow down. I would say that David and Daniel’s relationship is the catalyst for a change that has them facing their fears and speaking up.
To read more...
─ Plato
"Walking Wounded” by Sheila Llewellyn is not an easy book to read. It’s the kind of novel that asks to be put down, to be breathed through. This is not due to its corporeal size, but to the emotional weight it carries.
Though it travels back and forth in time, the journey begins at the Northfield Military Psychiatric Hospital. The narrative is led by two characters: David Reece, an ex-soldier struggling to settle back into civilian life after being demobilised from Burma, and Daniel Carter, a senior psychiatrist assigned to help David while fighting his own personal and professional demons.
“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”
─ Howard Zinn
There are two opening scenes before the actual beginning of the book that set the tone for what follows. While David in Burma bears witness to two men cutting into a mule’s voice box with the intention of silencing the animal, Daniel in Barnwood House Hospital observes a leucotomy being performed on a woman suffering from “melancholia”. These two procedures, seemingly unrelated at first, draw parallels between the two characters that then intertwine their experiences throughout the pages.
The fact that they are both haunted by memories from their pasts, and by the expectations of their futures, surrounds their every interaction with an extraordinarily particular aura. Llewellyn seems to acknowledge this, her writing attending to the smallest of details with such reverence that time itself seems to slow down. I would say that David and Daniel’s relationship is the catalyst for a change that has them facing their fears and speaking up.
To read more...
November 10, 2018
A great idea for a novel, but strangely unengaging. Seems to owe a huge debt to Pat Barker's Regeneration but fails to reach the same level of interest.
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